The Shreds

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.You can download the 10-song album for FREE.Anyone kind enough to pay for the record will get two bonus tracks -- "Apartment" and "Sleeping With the Enemy 2: Still Sleepin'" -- emailed to them.Thanks for listening! This record almost killed us.

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Corporate HeartsPennsylvania

corporatehearts.storenvy.com Formed in November 2010, Corporate Hearts is a two-piece,
mainly acoustic punk rock band from Bucks County, Pa., made up of brothers Zack and Craig Needles. With influences ranging from Alkaline Trio and the Lawrence Arms to the Replacements and the National, Corporate Hearts play punk rock with a heavy focus on lyrics, harmonies and rippling Danzig-esque physiques....more

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My body is decades ahead of my brain
And seconds away from giving out on me
The thrill is gone and replaced with an ache
So dull it could lull me to permanent sleep

And you are an angel, you are a saint
But I gave up in grade school on the Catholic faith
And gave myself over to evil and hate
As you pray for my soul, I’m out searching for prey

This summer weather you love is boiling my blood
And all my good intentions have spoiled in the sun
I recoil at the sight of happy people having fun
Give me a cooler full of anything strong that’s big enough
To stuff my body into when I’m done

I’m your increasingly unwanted guest
A lost soul you wish you never found
You saw something in me and brought me home
Now I am here to put a hex upon your house

And all these love songs you play burrow into my brain
Sever my nerves and disconnect my heart from my veins
I’m in pain at the thought of having any real feelings for anyone
All I want’s the drone and drag of going numb
To creep into my crawling skin as I wait for night to come

I’m your increasingly unwanted pet
You couldn’t bear to watch them put down
You tried to save me and give me a home
Now I am here to put a pox upon your house

Hope springs eternal from a hole in your
Head is a smoking inferno of terror and
Dreading the day when reality finally seeps
In through the cracks in the floor
And crawls into your
Better judgment said
You should’ve left when you still had the chance

I’m your increasingly unwanted pest
But you just can’t bring yourself to move out
You try to pretend that I don’t exist
But I am here to bring a plague upon your house

Track Name: Independent Horror Film

I have problems with rage
I have problems with jealousy
It stems from insecurity, a fluctuation of my self-worth

She said I was acting like I was possessed,
Made up a lie, and left me on her front steps
I prayed for nails to rain down and shatter the earth

One day I’ll find someone who won’t turn me into a psychopath
When you’re down that road, you can’t turn around
You can’t turn back
I know I’ve got a problem, I know I need help
If I’m ever gonna coexist with someone else
Right now I need everyone to just leave me alone

I told her she’s the worst person that ever lived
And in that moment I really believed it
And I wanted someone else to feel the way I do

She looked me dead in the eye
And, without a second thought, told another lie
Then he drove her away the way I used to

And as I stood there on the sidewalk at 3am
Inside I completely lost my head
I became that maniac again

I'm a terrorizer, you're horrified
I wanna see the terrified look in your eyes
Open the skies and bring us all to an end

One day I’ll find someone who won’t turn me into a psychopath
When you’re down that road, you can’t turn around
You can’t turn back
I know I’ve got a problem, I know I need help
If I’m ever gonna coexist with someone else
Right now I need everyone to just leave me alone

One day I’ll find someone who won’t turn me into a psychopath
It’s a long dark road and you can’t turn around
You can’t turn back
I’ve got so many problems, I know I need help
If I’m ever gonna live with anyone else
Right now I need everyone to just leave me alone

Track Name: Long Division

It’s freezing cold and it’s getting dark
It’s a long crawl through the front yard
From the front door to my old car
When I get there I bet it won’t start

And I’m feeling old, too old for this
I thought we’d outgrown this kind of shit
The crying and the screaming
And the long, sickening silences

We were just kids when we first met
And we’ve just been kidding ourselves since then

Because when it isn’t meant to be
You’ve gotta force that fucker violently
In love and God and happy thoughts you gotta pretend to believe
And if it were up to me
I’d be someone else entirely
But if you’re dwelling on the past
You’re better off losing your memory

When I dream about our dream house
I’m on the front porch by myself
And I try the door but I’m locked out
There’s a stranger living with you now
And I wake up in a cold sweat
On a cold couch or an empty bed
Or in a coffin with a closed lid
Drawing flies while you’re painting the town red

We were just kids when we first met
And we’ve just been kidding ourselves since then

Because when it isn’t meant to be
You’ve gotta force that fucker violently
In love and God and happy thoughts you gotta pretend to believe
And if it were up to me
You’d be someone else entirely
But if I’m dwelling on the past
I’m better off losing my memory

And I talk to you like your father talks to your mother
And just like them it’s hard to understand what we ever saw in each other
And you look and me like my mother looks at my father
With a mix of disdain and regret as you strain to remember why you ever bothered

But I’ve got half a mind
To half-heartedly apologize
Because there’s part of me
That wants to try to make it right
But it’s been wrong so long
It’s a losing fight
So take me at my word, for what little bit that’s worth
And we can go our separate ways
Yeah you go to hell and I’ll go to waste

And if I were the last man on Earth
You’d still be better off alone
Because nuclear winter ain’t nothing
Compared to another winter in this home

Track Name: Waves of Panic

Some nights I’m way more conscious of my teeth than I should be
I push and pull and I swear they’re falling out
I’m way less confident than I let on to anyone
Since our falling out, I just wander around

Maybe I should retrace my steps
Maybe I should think a little less about death
It's hard to let go and harder to accept
So I'll say goodbye and wish you the best

Some nights I feel everything, all emotions, all movements
I toss and turn and I watch my room fall in waves
Questions of mortality and waves of panic
Since our falling out, I’ve been reading more graves

Maybe I should retrace my steps
Maybe I should think a little less about death
It's hard to let go and harder to accept
So I'll keep my head down and hope for the best
Just keep your head down and hope for the best

Some nights I have these memories of where we’ve been
The boardwalk, Pittsburgh, and beach motels
I haven’t gotten any better
My body’s in your bedroom, my head is in hell
But I know I’ve been selfish and strangely self-aware
I go through phases, sometimes I don’t care
Like fall into winter, we’re fading out
Since our falling out, I just wander around

Maybe I should retrace my steps
Maybe I should think a little less about death
It's hard to let go and harder to accept
So I'll say goodbye and wish you the best

Maybe I should not waste my breath
Maybe I should talk a little less about death
But the extra noise and the added stress
Distract from the fact that I don’t know what's next

Track Name: Gun to My Head

If somebody puts a gun to my head
I won't admit to this again
I won't admit to this again
But the truth is I get why you did what you did
I was hell to live with
I was a miserable prick
And I still am

So I won't try to stop you
Or ask you for more time
Because I'm not gonna improve
And honestly, I'm not even trying

So I'll just tell you that I hate you
Because we're better off that way
And it's easier to say
Than admitting I don't blame you
And begging you to stay
When I know things will never change

Because I can't
Be bothered to get better
I don't know how to stop
And I know I should never say never
But I don't like my odds

And I know I didn't turn out to be
Who we thought I'd be
Well I'm disappointed too
But I don't expect you to put up with me
So don't expect me to put up a fight for you

Because I get why you said what you said
Why you did what you did
Why it fucked up your head

And I get why you packed up and left
Why you're disillusioned
Why you couldn't handle it

And I get why you wish you could forget
Why you wish we never met
Why you wish I was dead

But if somebody puts a gun to my head
I won't admit to this again
I won't admit to this again

I won't say shit

Track Name: The Promise of Sleep

There are still rotting pumpkins left on the front steps
in mid-February
And there are poinsettias that are withered and dead
in the cemetery

When the ball dropped
I sarcastically yelled, “Happy New Year”
Because I’m pretty sure I’ll see it again
Before I’m able to get out of here

I've got dreams of New York City and London
I have this dream where it's pitch black and I'm running
From the sharp claws of the small town that I grew up in
Then I wake up and realize I'm running from nothing
I realize I'm running from nothing

I’ve heard that dwelling on the past is regret
And looking to the future is dread
But I’m finding out that living in the present is stress

I've got deadlines circling over my bed
when I'm trying to sleep
And the headlines that are scrolling through my head
are just out of reach

I've got dreams of heading out to the west coast
I have this dream where I get in my car and just go
But somewhere out in the midwest all the roads are closed
I can never seem to remember how the rest goes

I've got dreams of New York City and London
I have this dream where it's pitch black and I'm running
From the sharp claws of the small town that I grew up in
Then I wake up and realize I'm running from nothing
I realize I'm running from nothing

I'm still running from nothing.

Track Name: Recovery Summer

I sighed and whispered to myself,
“This is the start of a brand new chapter.”
Maybe I should scrap the whole thing
'Cause this feels so familiar

Are they still burning books in your town?
Can I stop in when I pass through this summer?
It’s only a 4-hour drive on a good day
I gotta get away from her
And all of this, really

Because the panic snowballs and then it melts
And short-circuits the wiring inside of my skull
Blank pages are better than the ramblings of
A 21-year-old me with delusions of the future

Is there still a curfew in your town?
Can I stop in when I pass through this summer?
I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve just been wandering around
I gotta forget about work and school
And all of this, really

Sometimes I talk out loud to myself
As if the break in silence will resonate more
I say, “Nothing thrown your way can break you.”
Then I walk out the front door
And I lock it behind me
And I glide along the same path to the same places
And I’m walking beside me
Watching a narrative that’s been done to death

Is there a place for me to play in your town?
Can I stop in when I pass through this summer?
I’ve been playing the same songs in the same bars
For what seems like forever

I started driving and said to myself,
“This is the start of a brand new chapter.”
I’m still trying to find a place to fit in
It’s been nearly impossible
For all of us, really

Track Name: Damage Assessment

Teenage heartache
Becomes middle age chest pain
I am nostalgic for no one
I look forward to nothing

Youthful ambition
Atrophies and stagnates
Aspirations choke and die
Apathy takes their place

The story of my life could fit on one side of a page
Folded into quarters, cut in half and double spaced
Nearly three decades of drawn-out decay
Reduced to a single refrain
I sing

I have done everything wrong

And it’s a hard pill to swallow when you take the whole bottle at once

And all young lovers
Grow to resent each other
Sparks fly then fall and die
Old flames get smothered

And all my potential
Lost and never recovered
If I knew then what I know now
I wouldn’t even have bothered

And even in my wildest dreams
I just sit and watch TV
Maybe call up my best friends to see if they remember me
I think in a language I don’t speak
I don’t say anything I mean
Ungraciously admit defeat
A lifelong losing streak because

I have done everything wrong

And it’s a hard pill to swallow when you take the whole bottle
When you take the whole bottle you wake up and everyone is gone

Track Name: Maybe We Can Just Drive

I’m trying to be less independent, I know that may sound strange
In a culture in which high-class businessmen are given all the praise
And strong and capable women in pop music are all the rage
I just don't wanna be some sad, lonely rocker in middle age

I'm not saying I need a white picket fence, if those even still exist
In fact, I've been fencing myself in and pretty much impossible to live with
But in my defense, I find it offensive when anyone recommends
That I settle in and start planning for the end

'Cause my last relationship was a nightmare
That slowly revealed itself
And I'm never able to sleep well
When I'm sleeping with someone else

Once you’ve seen this a thousand times
You become desensitized
But maybe you and I could go for a drive tonight
I’ve seen this a thousand times
And I’ve finally lost my mind
But maybe you and I could go for a drive tonight

I’ll try not to ramble too much about my new songs
But if I do, you don’t have to act like you care
And just to warn you, once I realize I’m not alone
I always tend to overshare
I’ll try not to overshare

My last relationship was a nightmare
We were slowly killing ourselves
Looking back on it, I didn't look well
So now I’m not looking for anyone else

Once you’ve seen this a thousand times
You become desensitized
But maybe you and I could go for a drive tonight
I’ve seen this a thousand times
And I’ve finally lost my mind
But maybe you and I could go for a drive tonight

Once you’ve seen this a thousand times
You become desensitized
But maybe you and I could go for a drive tonight
I’ve seen this a thousand times
And I’ve finally lost my mind
Maybe we can go inside
And you can remind me why I’m glad to be alive
Why I’m glad to be alive

Maybe we can go inside
And you can remind me why I’m glad to be alive
Or maybe we can just drive...

Maybe we can just drive.

Track Name: The Shreds

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?
We wouldn’t have to wait so long for this to be over
Well I’m starting to feel like a soldier
I can’t remember what I’m fighting for

Are you searching for meaning?
Stop
You’re wasting your time
You can dig through the shit looking for it
But there’s nothing to find
I’m not trying to be negative
I’m just positive nothing good can last
I’m the eternal optimist
But my glass is half-full of broken glass

So wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?
We wouldn’t have to wait so long for this to be over
Well I’m starting to feel like a soldier
I can’t remember what we’re fighting for

Are you longing for purpose?
Stop
You’re out of your mind
You’ve been doomed since you were ripped from the womb
In the same sterile room you go to when you die
Am I dragging you down?
Am I bumming you out?
Man, I’m just being real
I’m an agent for truth and barely breathing proof
That you’re only as young as you feel

But wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?
We wouldn’t have to wait so long for this to be over
And lately I feel like a soldier
I can’t remember my life before war

And I don’t want to fight anymore

You can try to make peace
It’ll shatter to pieces
You can cling to beliefs
But they’ll crumble in your hands
You can start over clean
But here’s how it ends
If you go and get your hopes up
They’ll be coming down in shreds

Because God is a fiction created by hypocrites
Sold to the gullible, weak-minded idiots
Love is a cancer that feeds off of innocence
Everything fun is a deadly carcinogen